Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/408

 When that good young ascetic heard this, he said, " Only a kos distant from this place is a spot called Panchavatí, and not far from it was the hermitage of the hermit Agastya, who with small effort cast down from heaven the haughty king Nahusha; where Ráma, who by command of his father took up his dwelling in a forest, accompanied by Lakshmana and his wife Sítá, long waited on that hermit; where Kabandha,* who guided Ráma to the slaughter of the Rákshasas, proceeded to attack Ráma and Lakshmana, as Ráhu dues the sun and moon, whose arm a yojana in length Ráma felled, so that it resembled Nahusha in his serpent form, come to supplicate Agastya; where even now the Rákshasas hearing the roaring of the clouds at the beginning of the rainy season, call to mind the twanging of the bow of Ráma; where the aged deer, that were fed by Śita, beholding the regions deserted in every direction, with eyes filling with tears, reject the mouthful of grass; where Márícha, who brought about Sítá's separation from her husband, assumed the form of a golden deer and enticed away Ráma, as if to save from slaughter those deer, that were still left alive; where, in many a great lake full of the water of the Káverí, it appears as if Agastya had vomited up in driblets the sea that he swallowed. Not far from that hermitage, on a table-land of the Vindhya, is a stronghold tangled and inaccessible, named Karabhagríva. In it dwells that mighty Durgapiśácha of terrible valour, chief of the Mátangas, whom kings cannot conquer. And he commands a hundred thousand bowmen of that tribe, every one of whom is followed by five hundred warriors. With the aid of those brigands he robs caravans, destroys his enemies, and enjoys this great forest, caring nought for this or that king.†

When Mŗigánkadatta had heard this from the young hermit, he took leave of him, and went quickly, with his companions, in the direction indicated by him, and in course of time he arrived in the environs of Karabhagríva that stronghold of the king of the Matangas, which were crowded with Bhilla villages. And within them he beheld near at hand on every side crowds of Śavaras, adorned with peacocks' feathers and elephants' teeth clothed in tigers' skins, and living on the flesh of deer. When Mŗigánkadatta saw those Bhillas, he said to his ministers, " See ! these men live a wild forest life like animals, and yet, strange to say, they recognise Durgapiśácha as their king. There is no race in the world without a king; I do believe the gods introduced this magical name among men in their alarm, fearing that otherwise the strong would devour the weak, as great fishes eat the little. " ‡ And while he was saying this, and trying